Last week started and ended with visits to Smalley’s Animal Hospital—in other words, a fairly typical week.

The first intake of the week was a red-tailed hawk, about a third-year, based on tail and eye color. He was found by birders the previous day and while they knew he had a wing injury, they weren’t sure of the extent of the injury.​Unfortunately, his wing had an open fracture with infection. The infection, of course, could have been treated; the open fracture, as you know by now, is generally a death sentence. Because of the extent and location of this fracture, vet Richie Hatcher and I agreed euthanasia was the only humane option.

In happier news, Richie cleared the first-year red-tail recovering from a wing fracture for placement in the flight pen. The x-ray looked good; there was about as much healing as was going to occur, so it was now a matter of placing the bird in the flight and seeing what happened…

​I’m happy to report that after a month of confinement, he was able on his first day in the flight to fly its full length. Since then, however, he’s pretty much been immobile on one perch or another when I go in to freshen his food and water—and he’s not eating well at all, which is worrisome. He ate very well when confined. If he doesn’t start eating soon, he’ll be moved back inside and hand-fed for a few days.

The squirrels are good to go and awaiting only a stretch of good weather for release.

With the red-tail in the flight, it seemed like a good idea to move the young great horned owl into the rehab bathroom and just let him sit on the open perch while he awaits his turn in the flight. Having done this with barred owl fledglings in the past, I knew the room would need “idiot-proofing”. This is an interesting undertaking because you have to look at the area from an owl’s perspective, and that’s harder than you think! Anything that has even a remote possibility of breakage must be removed. If there’s a chance it can be knocked down from its current location, move it. To lessen the buildup of poop, line everything with paper. Can it be turned over? Remove it. Can it be opened? Secure it or remove it. Are there corners where he could stash uneaten or half-eaten mice? Make sure you can access them easily for inspection and clean-up…​Fortunately, since this IS the rehab bathroom we’re talking about, much of this was already done. Sooo…move the GHO into the larger area, under extreme protest—it was new and different and owls don’t especially like that; it forces what little gray matter they have to fire up. He was NOT a happy camper, but he needed room to spread his wings, or so I thought…

Within half an hour, I heard an odd scrabbling noise coming from his new digs. Hmmm…he’s not on the perch; where did he go? I locate the source of the scrabbling: Doofus has hopped off the perch into a six-inch gap between boxes I placed in the tub to give him higher surface area if he hopped down there. He can’t get out, because figuring out how to get out on his own would require firing up that gray matter that owls have so very little of…

I sigh, laugh, and retrieve Doofus, intending to place him back on the perch. Nope. Not havin’ that. He folds his sizeable feet into balls and lets it be known he prefers his old digs for now, thanks. So he’s back in what I consider to be a too-small pen, but he’s happy—for now.

And I’ve been reminded once again that when it comes to owls, there’s no such thing as “idiot proof”!

Unfortunately, the week ended on a less-than-ideal note. Late Friday afternoon, a lady called about a cat-caught cedar waxwing. Her son had taken it from the neighbor’s free-roaming cat. (You KNOW my feelings on free-roaming cats, and I stand by my position that people who allow their cats to roam freely are not only contributing to wildlife decimation; they’re also irresponsible and uncaring pet owners.)​This striking bird was holding his left wing oddly but I couldn’t feel a fracture, so I checked to see if Smalley’s could work me in on short notice for an x-ray, as I didn’t want the bird to suffer all weekend with a broken wing if it was something we could deal with immediately. To our delight, neither wing was broken. Vet Peggy Hobby and I were sure the bird would be fine with some antibiotics and a little time.

He did have a small puncture wound above the left wing, so I figured that might be the reason for its odd positioning. Once I got him home, I cleaned and medicated the wound and started him on antibiotics, convinced he’d be releasable. He was alert, breathing easily, and eating well, so all looked good.

Unfortunately, the next morning he was dead, with a fair amount of blood draining from his beak. Apparently there were internal injuries, and these don’t show on x-rays. The poor bird bled out during the night.​Could his death have been avoided? Absolutely, and you can play a major part in preventing such avoidable deaths by being a responsible cat owner and keeping your cats indoors.

Saturday I was on a bird walk at Green-Wood Cemetery and got a halfway decent photo of a Cedar Waxwing...I also had a "discussion" very calm on my part, with some dufuss who was opining that the cats in his neighborhood who were allowed out in the back yards had "a better quality of life". I said, if you have a small yard and you can monitor the cat carefully while it is outside preferably with a harness and long leash, I can see giving it a little outdoor fresh air and change of scene. Yards in brownstone Brooklyn are usually very tiny and fenced. But for the most part cats belong inside the house, because killing birds is what they do. He walked away from me for which I was grateful. One of my neighbors has a cat that I would find in the nearby shrubby areas of Prospect Park, hunting. I have not seen her lately, so perhaps he has decided to keep her indoors, or else she was squashed by a car crossing Prospect Park West. This family has lost several cats this way. Some folks never learn.

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Laurens Wildlife Rescue

3/28/2016 12:55:18 pm

Unfortunately, they don't learn, Ann, but these irresponsible types are the very ones who put on a huge show of grief when they lose "their precious baby" to an accident that would have been totally avoidable had the cat been indoors where it belonged. Arguing with people like this--or even attempting to educate them through a civil discussion--is like banging your head against a brick wall.

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Pipette

3/28/2016 02:01:07 pm

Hope the RT improves & takes flight again; it must be very frustrating not to know what's going on with him.

Owls: dumb, yet they still somehow get their way!

So sorry about the cedar waxwing - they are beautiful birds.

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Laurens Wildlife Rescue

3/28/2016 02:06:51 pm

Thanks Pipette. It is indeed frustrating. He's back inside today to be hand-fed and see how he does with that.